Why Does the New Design of the Twenty-Dollar-Bill Interest Germans?

When I woke up, the first thing I saw in my News Feed was the news of a new 20-dollar-bill in the USA. By two different online magazines. But why do we even care this much?

What do Germans have to do with American currency? With regard to their design — Nothing. But Germans seem to be extremely into the representation of African-Americans. Zeit Online and Die Welt both informed about Harriet Tubman’s face replacing Andrew Jackson’s on the bill.

Erstmals schwarze Frau auf US-Dollarnote: Anstelle des Sklavenhalters Andrew Jackson soll Harriet Tubman zu sehen sein. Sie hatte sich für die Sklavenbefreiung eingesetzt. ( For the first time there’s a black woman on a US-Dollar bill: Instead of slave owner Andrew Jackson, Harriet Tubman will be pictured. She stood up against slavery.) — Zeit Online

The article’s title already shows, that the German focus lies only on her being African-American. Andrew Jackman is being reduced to not more than a slave owner.

Brings back memories…

…of 2008: Most German’s were obsessed with Obama, who then was to become the first African-American president of the USA. Spending my summer in Ohio, I was often asked, why Germans supported him, without knowing the least about his political agenda. I always answered: “I guess, because he’s black.” And I still think that’s the reason: Germans are really into steps which seem to be pro-African-American. Many German streets are named after Matrin Luther King Jr. and therefore it’s only logical that everyone is so excited about the new dollar bill. But why do Germans think this way?